Pinko Magazine Hedonism + Activism

I don’t get it.  Really, I don’t get it.  Why would Hillary want to be Secretary of State?

To be fair, I don’t like Hillary.  I’ve never liked Hillary and lots of people have really good reasons not to like Hillary.  But.  She could have been one of the best (effective) Senators the Democratic Party has ever fielded.  She could have sat for a few more years and become Majority (or Minority) Leader.  In fact, the highest office to which she could have aspired once she lost the nomination to Obama was Majority Leader of the Senate.  Not only that, she has given up any hope of providing leadership on the issues that she claims are most important to her, notably Health Care.  No, her friend Tom Daschle will be doing that instead.  She could have shaped the debate in the party and as a whole as Obama comes in and pursues his agenda.  She could have served as a stop to ensure that the party and President stayed in bounds on the big stuff that she cares about.

Nope.  Now she gets to go meet with unsavory foreign leaders without preconditions.  An idea she didn’t like too much just a few months ago.

So she’s ready on Day One, I guess.  Big deal.  Would you really want to go to work every day knowing that your boss against all odds spanked the heck out of you in an election?  Especially when you work the issue that he spanked you on?

Did her ambition drive her crazy?  Is this the only logical conclusion to make?  We all know she wanted with every ounce of her blackened soul to be the Top Dog.  Sure, move to New York.  “I’ve never lived there before but they like me and I’ll win.  And then I’ll get all the endorsements and all the money and be able to wear a jersey with 44 on the back and get my old apartment back.”  That’s what she thought, isn’t it?

OK, it would suck to lose an election.  Maybe she’s scared she would lose the next one too…  New Yorkers?  Anyone?  Would you vote for her for Senate again in four years?

Secretary of State is no slouch of a position, mind you.  It’s important.  It’s respected.  It’s the right hand chair at the big fancy table. For almost anyone else, it’s a promotion.  But for her, I don’t get.  I guess playing third fiddle is better then playing 15th.  Even if it’s the last time she plays.

So I won’t post the video here to spare Stirling and others the actual sight of a turkey being slaughtered, but this interview with Sarah Palin is out of control. I’m not being sarcastic either … that bird is cooked.

PINKO DAILY BRIEFS: Sorry for the late start. Our respective employers are trying to kill us. How else would you explain the current workload at our “real jobs”? Still we understand that you demand fresh, daily internets. So be it. When we get fired it’s all your fault.

Naomi Klein has an absolutley devastating article in Rolling Stone on the Iraq-esque feeding frenzy we call “the Troubled Asset Relief Program”. Naomi is making a habit of devastating us and we don’t like it! If you would prefer to be devastated in table form The New York Times is happy to oblige.

Speaking of tragedies, Bill O’Reilly, among others, have a major persecution complex are saying that Obama is scheming to take away your precious talk radio forever by reinstating the Fairness Doctrine! Oh no! People still listen to the radio?! How tragic!

Now that you have been thoroughly devastated, how about some videos of adorable Shiba Inu puppies? Then you can bail out a Shiba Inu in need of a good home from this rescue. In these troubled times everyone has to do their part.

Townhall.com pundits are all over MSNBC and CNN as the conservative response to liberal bloggers. They’re terrible. They’re all pro-life women (what?), they’re all very angry and I haven’t seen one of them make a good point in five months. I was watching Amanda Carpenter, who is a regular, and she does this thing where she throws in non-sequitors because she had a zinger planned and she wants to use it. I just saw her stop a conversation dead about Hillary Clinton and mutter something random about uranium from Khazikstan. “It’s like a scene from Borat, only it’s not a joke.” Uhm, that’s fine Amanda, but we were talking about Hillary Clinton here. They aren’t even fun.

Okay I know that Newt Gingrich is positioning himself to run against Obama in 2012 but do we need this shit already? From O’Reilly: 

“Look, I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. And, frank — for that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they’re the opposite, of what you’re taught in Sunday school.”

Gay facism = sign Pinko up. But coming from Gingrich, a noted adultered with a trail of ex-wives and kids littering Georgia, the anti-marriage stuff seems a bit much.

Yesterday Missouri was called for Barack Obama, putting the final electoral vote count at 365-173. These were our fearless predictions on Election Day. The winner? Erik Moe! Erik got closest with a 358-185 call. Erik you were 12 off! What state? Indiana and that random Nebraska vote add up to 12 … was that the difference? I was a pessimist. So was stirling. Sandy went 398 Obama … hopemonger! PinkoKate predicted that win or lose, we’ll all be in this together. So she takes second.

PINKO DAILY BRIEFS. Tuesday I was angry. People seemed to respond well to that, but today I’m excited. Can I be excited? There are good reasons. Barack Obama’s lead keeps growing! They are counting more votes, it was 52-47 now it’s 53-46! I know he already won but the bigger the lead the better. Other things to be excited about? This amazing zero-carbon house in London. This interview where Jean-Claude Van Damme tries to fuck a 22-year old. A renovated, newly opened National Museum of American History. I love that place. New Star Trek with sexy young Captain Kirk having it with some vulcan. Also this great look at feminist comedians in the wake of the election. Not so exciting? Auto CEOs flying private jets to DC to beg for a bailout. “Burrowing,” this shady thing Bush is doing to try and saddle the Obama administration with a number of hack conservative political appointees in a way that makes them impossible to fire. Not so sure? Obama released his plan for LGBT policy this week. Queerty, which I like a lot, is optimistic but I don’t see him ever bringing the Defense of Marriage Act up for repeal, at least not in a first term. Maybe he’d sign it if someone else pushed it through congress, but I don’t see it happening.

Oh! Also, lets get excited about health care! Tom Daschle is going to be Secretary of Health and he may actually get some things done, and this roundup gives a great overview of the ways that Obama may really go for it on health care, and is spending important political capitol to get it passed.

Have you ever watched this shit? It’s kind of great. I was watching on the plane home from San Francisco and I couldn’t stop. They did a great segment on Japanese fashion and didn’t make anyone look silly or othered, and they did a 10-minute thing about ethanol that made sense and was oddly dramatic. Then they played excerpts from this great Sigur Ros concert at MoMa last summer. Current is the TV network that Al Gore helped start and it depends heavily on user-generated content and public submissions, but I’d never given it a look. The hour I watched was really good. I’m not sure the best way to watch it (maybe it’s awesome background entertainment while you clean your living room?) but if you have it on your cable service you should give a look.

These hands are small I know.

I’ve spent my last two weekends at the DC and San Francisco Green Festivals, which are basically these enormous convention center-style public expositions for people who are interested in living more sustainably. There are 5 Green Festivals around the country each year, and people come with their families …  sort of like going to the auto show or the circus when we were kids, except instead of concept cars it’s electric cars and instead of lions it’s tribal-dyed-alpaca-wool sweaters. The festivals are huge and ridiculous but overall they’re extremely hopeful, with tens of thousands of people giving up some of their weekends to figure out how to be more environmentally responsible. 

Like any facet of the “green” movement, there is a lot going on that is just a little too intense and a bit too crunchy for (home) school. There are a few too many low-cut yoga pants, and way too many awkward white-people dancing to bad reggae. Conversely there are some really great innovations … solid campaigns and new products/ideas that might be able to gain mass appeal, or make an impact on climate change.  Then there is the downright confusing. Why is that man in a headdress? I wish I knew.

Today we’ll look at what was great at the Green Festivals. Tomorrow we’ll look at what was doomed, confusing, tangentially/somewhat racist or strange. Here were a few of my favorite finds from the festival: (more…)

Mitt Romney today: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt. My favorite line? “I love cars, American cars.”